Just curious how common it is to play with a bad gm, presumably because they are your friend, or no one else is available.

Also, is anyone a bad gm themselves?

Well I have in the past but recently. No. Gotten to old and though I love my games I learned I can live without them if need be.

However I have gamed with Gm's that were just OK but because they were new and had the potential to learn to be better. I take it as a responsibility as an older /experienced gamer to try to help or cultivate Gm's. Seldom do people have a gift for the job as a whole, they may be gifted at some aspect of it but not every job the Gm has. So sometimes that means tolerating mediocre play or games with highs and lows.

Just my thoughts.

I have only played one session under someone who I thought was a bad DM; his gaming style and mine were not in sync, to say the least.

I have been told by people on the internet that certain techniques I use (i.e. not fudging, rolling for random encounters, and so on) make me a bad DM. Or rather, they construct hypothetical scenarios to prove why the technique makes me a bad DM - not that I really care. My players like my game. They're the only people I care about satisfying.

Quote from: Jacob Marley;707908I have only played one session under someone who I thought was a bad DM; his gaming style and mine were not in sync, to say the least.

I have been told by people on the internet that certain techniques I use (i.e. not fudging, rolling for random encounters, and so on) make me a bad DM. Or rather, they construct hypothetical scenarios to prove why the technique makes me a bad DM - not that I really care. My players like my game. They're the only people I care about satisfying.

If your players are happy, I think you are by definition a 'good' gm.

And, one can argue that how one uses a technique is more important than the fact they used it at all.

Some " Bad GM" labels are applied to those who don't share playstyle preferences. A tough but fair GM might be regarded as horrible to a group who wishes to engage in power trip storytelling.

One universal sign of a good GM is talking to the players before the game and seeing how expectations match up. I think if more GMs did this by default the fewer reports of bad GMs we would have overall.

Quote from: Bill;707892Just curious how common it is to play with a bad gm, presumably because they are your friend, or no one else is available.

It's happened for me to play with a friend who happened to suck as a GM. And you know, I didn't do much of it, even had a good time because we goofed around, enjoyed the presence of each other and so on. This goes back to Old Geezer's rant about RPGs being this "serious business" thing for some people.

I can play with a bad GM and have a good time, especially if that dude/dudette is a friend.

Now, that said, there ARE bad GMs who are absolutely terrible AND actually harm the hobby in a variety of ways. I'm thinking about guys recruiting strangers and basically making their games a terrible time to go through, or worse, those same terrible GMs running games at stores and not getting a hint that they are driving people away from games because they are terrible examples of what's fun about them. Dudes with absolutely obnoxious personalities, poor hygiene, a way-over-the-top opinion of themselves, enormous ego issues playing with their DMPCs and lording their crap onto the players, and the like. You know. That guy.

I don't see a quick fix for that.

There's something to be said about these folks "not getting a hint", though: being a bad GM is one thing. It's okay to suck at something, and if you like that thing, then you can seek to improve, learn from your mistakes, and what do you know? In time, you'll improve. Doesn't mean you'll become a great GM automatically by flipping a switch, but you will stop sucking pretty quick. Guaranteed.

Oppose that to the guy who basically is a jackass. A guy who either defines so much of his self-esteem around the games he runs and so sensible that he just can't take criticism without freaking/lashing out, or is so fundamentally clueless he'll never figure out that the reason his games are shit are not because of those legions of "shitty players" out there, but because of this one common factor between all those games: himself.

This guy is a pain. He'll never learn. The only solution is to not play with him.

As for the amount of people who'd qualify as bad GMs in my book: I don't think there are that many out there. The ones I have actually played with, I could count on the fingers of one single hand, probably. I think most GMs are decent, make occasional mistakes, and are perfectly able to learn from them. The truly terrible GMs who wreck any game table they touch by their mere presence behind the screen are a rarity, IME.

I'm a good GM for my players. I may be a very bad GM for different players. But I only play with my friends, so there's no problem.

Of course I am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q

I've only played with one GM who was outright awful. Total railroad, mildly abusive jackass. I didn't stick around long.
Others I've met have been dull/unimaginative or have a tin-ear for what the players are telling them... but I wouldn't label them 'bad'. Some of them just seem burned out... running on fumes.

For myself, I was a bad GM in High School... but everybody was having fun. Since then I've improved a lot.

Maybe I am. But I see it like leadership. If you have a problem, step up to the plate and do it better. If you don't want the responsibility, then go back to being a cog in my broken machine.

Well, according to RPG.net, I'm a horrible GM: my game's are full of Patriarchy, a flagrant homo- or transexual is rarer than a unicorn, and my idea of narrative control is "the GM is God!"

Strangely, I've still found myself in fairly constant demand as a GM, for the last twenty years. Go figure!

Quote from: Bill;707911If your players are happy, I think you are by definition a 'good' gm.

That's a sentiment I try to live by these days. I would even expand it to the assertion that, "a good movie/song/book/videogame/etc. is one that entertained you personally, regardless of its technical proficiency or raw originality." Unfortunately this is an assertion that often touches off heated discussion.

Quote from: Novastar;707999Well, according to RPG.net, I'm a horrible GM: my game's are full of Patriarchy, a flagrant homo- or transexual is rarer than a unicorn, and my idea of narrative control is "the GM is God!"

Strangely, I've still found myself in fairly constant demand as a GM, for the last twenty years. Go figure!

Most people over at RPG.net play Poofters & Pansies ...